Strictureplasty
This type of surgery is performed on one or more strictures of the small bowel. Large bowel strictureplasty is extremely rare due to the less flexible nature of the large intestine as opposed to the small intestine, but some doctors do perform large bowel strictureplasties.
The goal of a strictureplasty is to open up a stricture in the bowel without physically removing a portion of bowel and connecting the two loose ends together, which is known as a resection. This preserves the patient’s bowel length and is a less invasive option to resection.
The surgeon first slices the strictured segment of bowel length-wise and then pulls the opened section apart before stitching it back together the opposite way, cross-wise. This reforms the narrowed piece of bowel into a widened piece but does not actually decrease its length or remove tissue from the body.
Comments
Comment from crohner
Time: October 16, 2009, 3:00 pm
I really like this type of surgery and I’m glad it’s an option since it really does help to spare a lot of bowel length and open up the passageways, as opposed to just cutting things out as in a resection. I’ve had one surgery so far which involved a massive resection (called a subtotal colectomy) and a strictureplasty in the uppermost section of my small intestine, the duodenum. The need for the strictureplasty was that the inflammation in the colon resting up against that part of the duodenum became so bad that it actually created fistulas and started to deteriorate the portion just below my stomach. If I end up needing more surgery in the future I’ll always opt for strictureplasty whenever possible. Thanks for your comment Mark!
Comment from Mark
Time: October 8, 2009, 2:59 am
I had this done 12 years ago, and the results have been great. I had 2 previous surgeries - both resections, and they eventually lead to another resection…